This is why the US can’t have nice things #2

US military scientists lost contact with an unmanned hypersonic experimental aircraft on its second test flight, officials said.

The Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) successfully separated from its rocket but lost contact shortly into its “glide phase”.

“We know how to boost the aircraft to near space,” Maj Chris Schulz, the programme manager, was quoted as saying on Darpa’s website.

“We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight. We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight. It’s vexing; I’m confident there is a solution. We have to find it.”